Bellows lock for accordions



*Sept 6, 1938. F STUCHLY 2,129,247

BELLOWS LOCK FOR ACCORDIONS Filed NOV. 19, 1936 Fg J.

INVENTOR @d 5kg/ay Patented Sept. 6, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- 5 Claims.

This invention relates to accordions and particularly to a locking device for the bellows. The primary object of my invention is to provide a simple and inexpesive locking device for 5 the bellows that shall be disposed entirely within the accordion, and that shall be to some extent automatic in its operation, and that shall be controllable under certain conditions to opening position or to closed position by a slight compression of the bellows.

The locking device embodying my invention consists brielly of a pivoted and weighted latching finger attached to the frame at one end of the bellows, and a cooperating, receiving, and 15 clamping post supported on and secured to the frame at the other end of the bellows.

When the accordion is in horizontal resting position, the weighted iinger is biased by gravity to a, position where it will engage the clamp to latch the finger and the clamp together. When the accordion is rotated into playing position, the weighted finger is biased by gravity to a position out of engagement with the clamping element, thereby permitting the bellows to be eX- 25 panded and contracted without any restraint by the lock elements.

'I'he clamping element of the lock consists of two spring biased latching elements that are normally positioned to provide a recess for receiving the finger and holding it in latched position. 'Thus the nger may be pressed downward between the ends of the cooperating latch elements into the recess, or it may be moved to enter the recess from the side of the latching elements. Thus the bellows may be compressed and the lock permitted to function automatically in response to gravity to lock the bellows in cornpressed position, or the finger may be pressed to locking position with respect to the latching elements by external pressure upon the bellows, that presses the bellows to the maximum compressed position.

I have illustrated one form of the locking device made in accordance with the principles of my invention, as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a plan View of an accordion with the top frame removed to expose the space within the bellows;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the accordion with parts broken away through the bellows and the reed bars to expose the locking device for the bellows;

Figure 3 is an end elevational view of the accordion of Figure 2, with the end wall of the bellows broken away to show the location of the locking device;

Figure 4 is an enlarged View of a portion of the accordion in Figure 3, showing the disposition of the locking device;

Figure 5 is an elevational View of the locking device illustrating the construction of the Various elements thereof;

Figure 6 is an elevational view showing the construction of the supporting post and pivot bracket for the latching elements; and

Figure '7 is a side elevational view of the locking device of Figure 5, and illustrates the manner in which the locking elements engage and disengage under diierent conditions.

As shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, an accordion I consists briefly of an upper frame Il for one set of control keys I2, a lower frame I3 for supporting a similar set of control keys or bars I4, a centrally disposed bellows l and several sets of reed supporting blocks I6.

During the playing of the accordion, the bellows l5 is expanded and contracted in order to force the air through passages controlled by the keys or stops l2 in order to vibrate the associated reeds,

When the accordion is at rest and is to be carried, it is desired that the bellows be compressed to its maximum `degree and held in such compressed position, in order to prevent undesirable movement between the various parts of the accordion, The practice heretofore has been to join the two frames at the ends of the bellows by a short strap of such limited length as to require the bellows to be tightly compressed before the strap could be moved to locking position on a suitable post or pin extending from the side wall of the frame. The disadvantage of such straps has been that they are unsightly and are in the way of the player while he is manipulating the accordion bellows.

The purpose of the present locking device is to eliminate the use of such external locking straps and to provide greater freedom to the player of the accordion.

For that purpose I provide a locking device 20, consisting generally of two elements, namely a latching nger 2l and a cooperating detent 22 for receiving the latching nger 2l.

The nger 2l is connected to an arm 23 that is mounted upon a, tubular element 24, that is secured to a rod 25 pivotally supported at both ends in stationary bearings 26 and 21. The linger 2| is provided with a disc-shaped weight 28, angularly offset from the connecting arm 23 in order to enable the force of gravity acting upon the weight 28 to impose a rotating or turning movement to the arm 23, and consequently to the nger 2|, in order to bias the linger to engagement with or out of engagement from the detent 22. The movement of the nger 2l is further controlled to limit its movement to either of two terminal positions, by two limiting stop arms 29 and 30 that are secured to the rotatable rod or shaft 25. The arms 29 and 30 are so positioned as to engage a part of the frame 3| at the associated end of the bellows.

'Ihe detent 22 consists principally of two oppositely positioned latch elements 33 and 34 that are pivotally mounted at their lower ends on pivot pins 35 and 36, supported on a plate resting as a head piece on the supporting and anchoring post 39. The two pivoted latching elements 33 and 34 are biased to engaging position by a substantially U-shaped spring 40, the lower end of which is anchored on the post 39 and reinforced and encircled by a compression strap 4|. The upper ends of the spring 40 are secured to the side edges of the pivoted latching elements 33 and 34 respectively.

The inner edges of the latching elements 33 and 34 are similarly recessed to provide an opening 43 having a relatively straight and continuous detent surface 44 against which the latching finger 2| may rest. The upper ends of the pivoted latching elements 33 and 34 are provided with converging inclined surfaces 45 and 4E forming a V-shaped notch for guiding and positioning the nger 2| under certain conditions, when the finger is to be moved to its latching position downwardly and between the two pivoted latching elements 33 and 34, instead of from the side. A stop pin 4l' is provided on the head piece 31 to hold the pivoted latching elements 33 and 34 exactly vertical in their closed positions, against any unbalance of the spring arms.

When the accordion is at rest, it will occupy a vertical position as shown in Figures 2 and That is the position it occupies when carried in its usual carrying case. In that position of the accordion, the weight on the finger 2i tends to rotate the finger into locking position with respect to the detent elements, as shown in solid line in Figure 7. If the bellows is compressed when the accordion is placed in vertical position, the weight will move in response to gravity to force the finger into the position shown in Figure 7. If, however, the bellows is expanded when the accordion is moved to vertical position, the finger 2| will be moved by the weight 23 to a position similar to that in solid line in Figure 7, but above the notch at the ends of the pivot cooperating elements 33 and 34. If the bellows is now compressed, the finger 2| will be forced to the bottom of the V-shaped notch, which will then open and separate the pivoted latching elements 33 3d against the biasing action of the spring 4B until the finger 2| is moved into the recess 43 between the latching elements. Thereupon, the latching elements will move together and the ringer 2l will rest `against the inner surface 44 when pressure upon the bellows is released. The bellows will now be held in compressed condition by the locking device,

When the accordion is to be played, the bellows must be unlocked. 'Ihe accordion, when played, is held in such position that the weight 28 is under the latching element 22 of the locking device, so that slight compression of the bellows will release the latching :linger 22 and permit the weight 28 to move the nger out of engagement with the latching member 22, to the position shown dotted in Figure '7. The accordion may then be played and the bellows expanded and contracted without interference from the locking device.

By means of a construction as shown and the disposition of the locking device within the bellows, the unsightly straps heretofore used to hold the bellows compressed are obviated, and the interference from such straps likewise avoided.

My invention is not limited to any specific details of construction that are illustrated, since details may be modied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. The combination with a bellows secured at each end to a frame, of a pivotally mounted latching iinger on the frame at one end of the bellows, a weight element eccentrically mounted on the finger to move the finger to either' of two positions in response to the force of gravity, and a detent for the iinger, said detent consisting of two pivoted levers individually notched to serve as triggers or catches for the iinger, 4and opposingly positioned to jointly restrain the latching finger, and a biasing spring for urging the pivoted levers together.

2. A combination as in claim l, in which the pivoted levers are tapered at their ends to constitute a V-shaped notch into which the latching finger may be guided and pressed to separate the levers against the force of the biasing spring, to permit the iinger to pass between the levers to the space formed by the notches of the levers.

3. A lock for an accordion provided with a bellows secured at each end to a frame, said lock comprising a pivotally mounted latching finger on the frame at one end of the bellows, and a hasp or detent on the other frame to receive the latching finger, and weight means entirely enclosed within the bellows and frame and associated with the finger and operative by gravity to release said iinger from its detent when the bellows is held in normal playing position, and momentarily initially compressed.

4. A locking device for a collapsible container provided with a bellows secured at each end to a frame member, said device comprising a latching linger' to be pivotally secured to one frame, and a detent to be secured to the other frame, said detent comprising two relatively iiat pivoted elements and a spring for biasing the two clements to edge to edge engagement, where the ends will form a V-notch into which the latching iinger may be pressed to separate the pivoted elements of the detent, those two pivoted elements being notched on an edge behind the end to provide a joint recess or seat into which the iinger will move and seat itself against casual displacement.

5. A locking device for a collapsible container provided with a bellows secured at each end to a frame member, said device comprising a latching finger to be pivotally secured to one frame, and a detent to be secured to the other frame, said detent comprising two relatively flat pivoted elements and a spring for biasing the two elements to edge to edge engagement, where the ends will form a V-notch into which the latching nger may be pressed to separate the pivoted elements of the detent, those two pivoted elements being notched on an edge behind the end to provide a joint recess or seat into which the nger will move and seat itself against casual displacement, and a weight on the latching finger mounted to bias it to disengaging position when the bellows is held in playing position.

FREDy s'rUcHLY. 

